


it's a little bit funny (this feeling inside)

by weatheredlaw



Category: Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them (Movies)
Genre: F/M, Marriage Proposal
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-12-01
Updated: 2016-12-01
Packaged: 2018-09-03 14:39:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,260
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8717809
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/weatheredlaw/pseuds/weatheredlaw
Summary: It is so incredibly perfect that Newt can scarcely believe he’s the one who planned it. This is, of course, the moment it goes wrong.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [woodswanderer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/woodswanderer/gifts).



> tumblr user @woodswanderer proposed [this](http://woodswanderer.tumblr.com/post/153533979738/when-newt-goes-to-propose-to-tina-he-reaches-in) prompt about the niffler being a little _ring thief_ and it called to me, so i wrote it.

_So excuse me forgetting but these things I do_  
_You see I've forgotten if they're green or they're blue_  
_Anyway the thing is what I really mean_  
_Yours are the sweetest eyes I've ever seen_

 

* * *

 

 

It really is a lovely moment.

He’s chosen quite well, considering his natural predisposition of finding himself in the wrong place at the wrong time, more often than not. The restaurant is rather unknown among New York’s magical population, but it is an endearing spot that sells her favorite dessert, so Newt is certain he has it right.

(Theseus’s proposal advice had been received warmly enough, but not followed. His brother was a living spectacle, and while _will you marry me_ written with enchanted fireworks had done _wonders_ for his own proposal, Newt had needed to politely remind him that not everyone enjoyed having their most private declarations put on display for the world to see.

His brother had snorted. “Tch, Newt. What _even_ is the point of proposing then?”)

 _To be married_ , he’d tried to say, but been drowned out by a dozen suggestions.

This one, though – this one is perfect.

It is so incredibly perfect that Newt can scarcely believe he’s the one who planned it. Dessert is being brought to the table, and Tina’s cheeks are flushed pink with wine and laughter. Newt’s own ache from smiling.

This _is_ , of course, the moment it goes wrong.

 

* * *

 

“You didn’t like dessert?” Tina asks later, leaning against the doorway of her room, brush hanging loosely in her hand. “You got very distracted.”

“Dessert was wonderful,” Newt says blandly. “Very good.”

She raises a brow. “Newt.”

“The _company_ was quite lovely.” He comes to her and puts his hands on her shoulders, drawing her in and kissing her forehead.

Tina leans into him, tapping his chest with her hair brush. “You’re up to something, Mr. Scamander.”

“I am never _up_ to anything. I’m a horrible secret keeper. Just ask my brother.”

“Someday I intend to.” She walks him to the door, her hand lingering in his as he goes. “I’ll come by your hotel in the morning.”

“Of course.” One last kiss, quick and chaste, to the cheek, before he Disapparates.

When he Apparates into his room, Newt immediately yanks off his coat and begins turning out every pocket, wondering how on _earth_ he could have possibly buggered something that was such a _sure thing._ The wrong pocket? A different coat? He had only a few, and only one he preferred.

“ _Damn_ ,” he mutters, finding it nowhere. “Merlin’s _bloody_ beard.” He runs a hand through his hair, glancing around the room before he starts pulling open drawer after drawer, turning open his books and flipping the pages. He trips over his case on the way to the bathroom, scowling as it rattles a bit. Had he left it _there?_ He wouldn’t have, he had been so _careful_ , so cautious with the blasted thing.

Still, if he had learned anything from this life, it was not to underestimate his own ability to _lose_ the things that seemed to matter quite a lot. With a sigh, he undoes the now-intricate set of locks and steps into the case before shutting it up tight behind him.

 

* * *

 

It is nowhere to be found in his workshop. Nowhere to be found absolutely anywhere, and Newt is in such a rage, such a personal fury, that he does not hear the case open, and the tell-tale signs of a certain woman’s sensible shoes coming down the stairs.

She finds him turning a box upside down, looking positively _mad_.

“…Newt?”

“ _Tina!_ ”

She looks around the space, carefully stepping over a pile of recently shed exoskeletons. The photo of Leta had long since been replaced with one of Tina, another added of the Goldstein sisters, another of Queenie and Jacob. Newt tosses a crate to the side and stands a little straighter.

“Newt. What are you doing?” She points. “If you _say nothing_ —”

“Looking for something.” He clears his throat. “Why don’t I take you to breakfast, that little spot with the cappuccinos you like is open—”

“Please stop placating me with food.”

“I am doing no such thing.” He goes and tries to usher her up the stairs, but she stands firm. “Tina.”

“You’re acting very suspicious, Mr. Scamander.”

“Worthy of investigating?”

“Not helpful, Newt.”

He sighs. “I’ve…lost something. It’s very important, but I must find it. Now if you’ll just go to Renaldo’s, I’ll meet you there and we’ll have—” He stops, watching Tina reach carefully into her pocket and pull something out.

At first, he thinks it’s going to be the box, and then of course, he’ll be found out and _teased_ mercilessly, which would be fine and all, except he only wanted it to be a _good_ story, not one that ended in _well Newt lost the ring and I had to go and fetch it_. A small shred of dignity would have been _nice_ –

But it isn’t a ring at all.

It’s his _bloody niffler._

“You little—” Newt lunges for him, but he scampers up to hide on Tina’s shoulder. “ _Thief,_ ” Newt mutters, gently prying him from her coat. “I hope you’re pleased with yourself.”

Tina sighs. “Did you come down here before you came to get me for dinner?”

“I always come down here before—” Newt frowns. “Ah. I see.” He’d been so distracted with the preparations, and the niffler had been poking around his things on the table, firmly put out when Newt tossed him back into his little home. He had clearly followed, and taken the ring to boot. Newt reaches into the little pocket and pulls out the box before heading back and depositing the niffler in his nest.

Tina is waiting patiently, arms folded behind her back, clearly fighting back a smile.

“Well, I suppose I’ve been found out.”

“And without a proper investigation,” she says, finally letting herself grin.

Newt laughs, looking at the box in his hand and nodding. “Well, I’d planned to do this in a far more romantic setting—” He pushes aside the exoskeletons and a crate of dried meat. “But I suppose for _us_ …”

“ _Newt._ ”

He kneels, opening the box. The ring is, _blessedly_ , there. “I had hoped to have a far more pleasing story to tell, too, but I think this is sufficient.” He looks at her. “Would you marry me? I promise to be better about thing such as this, and I will _never_ lose our children. Not on purpose, anyway.”

Tina covers her mouth with her hand, eyes welling with tears as she nods. “Of course I’ll marry you. _Of course_ ,” she says, and pulls him up to kiss him.

They stand like that, twisted and wound together, crushed exoskeletons underfoot, a niffler making his careful way back for his former prize.

“Please put that on me before we lose it again,” Tina murmurs.

Newt smiles. “Happily, my dear.” And it is a perfect fit, sliding on with ease. He threads their fingers together, leaning forward to press his forehead to her own. “Apologies,” he says, “if I aroused suspicion.”

Tina sighs. “Newt. You’re always a little suspicious.”

“Ah—”

“But.” She puts a finger over his lips. “I’m perfectly alright with keeping an eye on you.”

“Well, you’re going to have to, if this is the established precedent for our marriage.”

“Happily, Mr. Scamander.” And she kisses him, winding her arms around his neck. Newt feels an insatiable warmth spread from his chest to the rest of him limbs as he holds her.

“ _Happily._ ”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [no fear, no regret](https://archiveofourown.org/works/8862487) by [woodswanderer](https://archiveofourown.org/users/woodswanderer/pseuds/woodswanderer)




End file.
